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Rural co-ops working with WOCCU in China still intact

MADISON, Wis. (5/16/08)--Rural credit cooperatives (RCCs) working with the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) in China are reporting none were knocked out of commission by a massive earthquake Monday that killed at least 10,000 people. "We were working in Guizhou Province, next door to Sichuan Province, epicenter of the earthquake," said Michael Muckian, communications manager at WOCCU. "Although there are rural credit cooperatives in Sichuan, we haven't been in touch with them for quiet some time, and like the rest of the world, we don't know what's going on over there right now," Muckian told News Now. Ten people from RCCs in Guizhou are in the U.S., visiting credit unions in California. Some were apparently in touch with their families back home. The families said "they felt some shaking, but there were no injuries or deaths, no significant damage, and no RCCs knocked out of commission," he added. WOCCU's World Credit Union Conference will be in Hong Kong, nowhere near the region devastated by the 7.9 magnitude quake. The conference is set for July 13-16.